50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Five

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2023, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it’s not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here here and the fourth one here.

What are you reading?

List:

1.The Murder Room by PD James

1. Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green
2. The Lighthouse Witches by SJ Cooke
3. Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater.

5.The Ghost by Robert Harris DNF Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. 6 Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan 7 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 8 No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell 9 Snow by John Banville 10 Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith 11 Trust Me by TM Logan 12 Togerlily's Orchids by Ruth Rendell 13 The Ex by SE Lynes 14 The Rites of Spring by Anders de la Motte 15 The Woman in Black by Susan Hill 16 The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson STINKER ALERT HAZARDOUS FOR THE INTELLECT 17 A Thousand Ships by Nathalie Haynes 18 Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer 19 Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

And one of many quotes from Stuart Maconie which means I may be only on chapter 3 but it'll be a bold (and I might reread all his others, it's been a year or two)

"I never felt the call of the New Age traveller movement, or crusty culture. The eye-jarring Peruvian knitwear, the ginger dreadlocks, the didgeridoos"

Perfect.

@Piggywaspushed I don't think reading Copperhead will spoil DC for you. I read DCH as an ARC and didn't realise it was based on DC (and I like DC a lot). However, because you know DCH is based on DC you'll be looking out for similarities. I (tin hat on) didn't like DCH but perhaps it was because I had read so much grim stuff recently.

Thank you Southeastdweller

My list, first time I’ve done one. Favourites in bold, not-brilliants in italics

1 The Black Dog, Kevin Bridges
2 A Chip Shop In Poznan , Ben Aitken
3 The Lighthouse Witches, C.J Cooke
4 A Litter Of Bones, J.D Kirk
5 A History Of Sex, Kate Lister
6 Thicker Than Water, JD Kirk
7 Hell Bent, Leigh Bardugo
8 A Sliver Of Darkness, CJ Tudor
9 Whisper Down The Lane, Clay Macleod Chapman
10 This Charming Man, CK McDonnell
11 The Drift CJ Tudor
12 House Of Glass Hadley Freeman
13 Where The Edge Is, Grainne Murphy
14 The Ghost Woods CJ Cooke
15 I’m A Fan, Sheena Patel
16 Hags Victoria Smith
17 The Satsuma Project, Bob Mortimer
18 A Helping Hand, Celia Dale
19 A Whisper Of Sorrows, JD Kirk
20 The Murmuring Bones AG Slatter
21 Children Of Paradise, Camilla Grudova
22 The Marriage Portrait Maggie O’Farrell
23 The Gift Of A Radio, Justin Webb
24 The Whispering Muse Laura Purcell
25 The Full English Stuart Maconie
26 Looking Glass Sound Catriona Ward
27 Taken Over By Something Evil From The TV Set, Jason Arnopp

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Finally back into reading after a hideous few weeks at work. Hopefully quieter times for a few weeks now!

Have been really poor at posting reviews, but my list contains many that have been widely reviewed here anyway, since I'm trying to actually get through my "want to read" list which is mostly from here anyway...

1. Deren Brown - Happy
2. Roald Dahl - Matilda
3. Helen Wykham - Ribstone Pippins
4. Ed Glinert - The London Football Companion
5. Ransom Riggs - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
6. Gregory Maguire; David Litchfield (ilus) - Cress Watercress
7. Dirk Schellberg - Didgeridoo - Ritual Origins and Playing Techniques
8. Kateřina Tučková; Véronique Firkusny (trans) - Gerta: A Novel
9. Paulette Kennedy - The Witch of Tin Mountain

10. Julian Green; JA Underwood (trans) - Paris 11. Stephen King - Roadwork 12. Heather E. Schwartz; Chris King (ilus) - The Day the Towers Fell 13. Wolfgang Langewiesche - Stick and Rudder 14. Alice Oseman - Heartstopper Volume 1 15. Stephen King - Rage 16. Alice Oseman - The Heartstopper Yearbook 17. Robert Roberts - The Classic Slum 18. Adam Kay - This is Going to Hurt 19. Sally McGraw - Living Simply: A Teen Guide to Minimalism 20. Ward Farnsworth - The Practicing Stoic 21. Jim DeFede - The Day the World Came to Town 22. William B. Irvine - The Stoic Challenge 23. Alice Oseman - Heartstopper Volume 2 24. Alexander Duthie - The Greek Mythology 25. Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm 26. Alice Oseman - Heartstopper Volume 3 27. Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day 28. Alice Oseman - Heartstopper Volume 4 29. Marie Kondo - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Key Takeaways) 30. Susan Jeffers - Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway 31. Harry Mount - Harry Mount's Odyssey 32. Wade Davis - Into the Silence 33. Marie Kondo - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying 34. The Students of Limpsfield Grange School and Vicky Martin - M is for Autism 35. Marie Kondo - Spark Joy 36. Toshikazu Kawaguchi; Geoffrey Trousselot (trans) - Before the Coffee gets Cold 37. Agatha Christie - Sad Cypress 38. JL Carr - A Month in the Country 39. Stella Gibbons - Enbury Heath 40. Gail Pirkis & Hazel Woods (eds) - Slightly Foxed vol. 56 41. Johann Hari - Stolen Focus 42. Adam Kay - Kay's Brilliant Brains 43. LD Lapinski - Adventure in the Floating Mountains 44. Agatha Christie - Partners in Crime 45. Homer; Pauline Francis (reteller) - The Iliad 46. Lucie Arnoux - Je ne sais quoi 47. Helene Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road 48. Helene Hanff - The Duchess of Bloomsbury 49. Vera Brittain - Testament of Youth 50. Gail Pirkis & Hazel Woods (eds) - Slightly Foxed vol. 57 51. John Green - The Anthropocene Reviewed

@Stokey

Yes short but absorbing and beautifully written

Thanks southeast for the new thread, here is my list so far:

1. Halloween Party – Agatha Christie
2. Silver Bay – Jojo Moyes
3. Troubled Blood – Robert Galbraith
4. Wizards and Warriors – F X Nine
5. Lethal Wihte – Robert Galbraith
6. The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J K Rowling
8. The Silkworm – Robert Galbraith
9. Career of Evil – Robert Galbraith

10. Sugar Men – Ray Kingfisher 11. Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls – Ann M Martin 12. The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware 13. All That Remains – Sue Black 14. The Princess Bride – William Goldman 15. It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover 16. The Ink Black Heart – Robert Galbraith 17. Gang Leader for the Day – Sudhir Venkatesh 18. World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume II 19. The Drop – Michael Connelly 20. The Enemy – Lee Child 21. April Fools – Richie Tankersley Cusick 22. The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak 23. The Curfew – T M Logan 24. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin 25. Creature Teacher: Final Exam – R L Stine 26. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Age 13 ¾ - Sue Townsend 27. The Truth About Stacey – Ann M Martin 28 The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell

I'm having a mid-life crisis I think and am reading teen fiction from when I was an actual teen. Went a bit crazy on World of Books and bought a bundle of 90s YA books to enjoy over the summer as they have a buy 3 get a 4th free on books under a fiver just now.

Still ploughing through The Old Curiosity Shop and listening to Anna Karenina on audio, but have now ended up about two or three weeks ahead as it's been very easy listening. Have also started The Stranger by Harlan Coben, who I haven't read enough of recently.

@PepeLePew have you read the Joan Smith detective (ish) books? I remember reading them after watching a very good TV adaptation of one in the 90s with a very young and rather lovely Greg Wise, Imelda Staunton and Janet McTear in. The women were university lecturers iirc.

@InTheCludgie

Loving the 90s throwback in your post

Thanks for the new thread southeast
My list so far:

1. Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard
2. The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid
3. The Running Man by Stephen King
4. A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons by Cressida Cowell
5. The Ruin of All Witches by Malcolm Gaskill
6. Healthiest You Ever by Meera Lester, Murdoc Khaleghi, Susan Reynolds & Brett Aved
7. A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture by Violet Fenn
8. House of X / Powers of X by Hickman / Larraz / Silva
9. Mr Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn
10. Jane Eyre Laid Bare by Charlotte Brontë & Eve Sinclair
11. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
12. The Book of Angst by Gwendoline Smith
13. Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough
14. The Midnight Game by Cynthia Murphy
15. How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm by Cressida Cowell
16. The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
17. Two Degrees by Alan Gratz
18. X of Swords by Hickman / Howard / Duggan
19. Wildcard by Marie Lu
20. Letters to my Weird Sisters by Joanne Limburg
21. George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy & Stephen Hawking
22. Understanding High Blood Pressure by Dr Shahid Aziz & Dr Zara Aziz
23. The Forever Ship by Francesca Haig
24. The Fast 800 by Dr Michael Mosley
25. The Travelling Bag and Other Ghostly Stories by Susan Hill
26. The Time of the Clockmaker by Anna Caltabiano
27. Survive The Night by Riley Sager
28. Hallowdene by George Mann
29. Fat Cow, Fat Chance by Jenni Murray
30. Mort by Terry Pratchett
31. Blind Spot by Paula Hawkins
32. Get A Grip, Love by Kate Lucey

And just finished

34. All New Wolverine Vol 6: Old Woman Laura by Taylor / Rosanas / Woodard

Collects the final part of the All New Wolverine run, where Laura has taken over the Wolverine name. The Old Woman Laura storyline is basically there to end things on a happy note, with a “what if” flash-forward to a possible future where Laura and her friends are undertaking one last mission to fight a supervillain.

Congratulations on the early retirement, @BestIsWest ! Hope you get lots of lovely reading time.

Will post list tomorrow. About to start book 50.

Thanks for the new thread, south.

I won’t post my whole list as I feel I’m not making very fast progress, but from the point where I first posted on the last one I've read these:

20. The Kitchen Book - Nicolas Freeling
21. The Cook Book - Nicolas Freeling
22. The Light of Day - Graham Swift
23. Journeys to Impossible Places - Simon Reeve
24. Death Among the Sunbathers - E. R. Punshon
25. Time to Think - Hannah Barnes
26. Charlotte Sometimes - Penelope Farmer
27. Adventures of a Suburban Boy - John Boorman
28. The Summer Birds - Penelope Farmer
29. Virginia Woolf's Women - Vanessa Curtis
30. The Fortnight in September - R. C. Sherriff
31. As Nature Made Him - John Colapinto
32. Exiles - Jane Harper

Happy enough with some of these, but no stand-outs and no downright stinkers either.

Currently need to catch up with my Old Curiosity Shop chapters, and I’m about to start Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont for the Rather Dated Bookclub.

I didn't quite get round to it, it's been a very busy few days and my app is playing up.

My personal picks were

Trespasses
Fire Rush
The Marriage Portrait
Children of Paradise
Wandering Souls
Demon Copperhead

I thought the ones the judges would pick would be

Demon Copperhead
The Marriage Portrait
Stone Blind
Memphis
Trespasses
Fire Rush

I'm predicting Demon Copperhead as the winner at this stage. It's not my top choice, but I think it's got something about it that screams prizes. I have a personal grudge against BK though so I don't want it to.

I'd like to see Trespasses win and I really liked Fire Rush.

I'd already decided to carry on with Pod based on Stokey's rec.

@FortunaMajor

Do elaborate on the personal grudge!

p.s. Thanks for the new thread Southeast

My book club are wistful for something amazing. I've been tasked with finding another Piranesi. Not necessarily something of the same sort of genre?, but something they would never have picked up, but found amazing when they did. A unicorn comes to mind, I'm not sure there's anything that compares or creates a similar sort of feeling when reading it.

Just finished Shy - Max Porter which is book 100 for me. It's very short, but so much packed in. It's almost like slam poetry, really in your face. Very intense and yet less is more. Possibly an acquired taste, but I really like his writing.

Also really enjoyed The Silence Project - Carole Hailey
A young woman deals with the aftermath of her mother's death. Her mother was an accidental cult leader and one of her acolytes seeks to subvert the original purpose. Not anything special in the writing, but a decent plot.

Currently on The Leviathan - Rosie Andrews
Norfolk mid 1600s. A soldier returns from war and finds his father has had a stroke and his sister has accused the maid of witchcraft and causing his illness and the death of their sheep.
I was hooked straight away and am 50% on.

@FortunaMajor

The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August is my suggestion

Oh I loved The Leviathan @FortunaMajor ! WitchLit is so frequently badly done but this was very refreshing.

Oh and Fortuna may I also suggest Ella Minnow Pea ?

Thanks for the new thread SouthEast!

I ballsed up my numbering on the last thread so have taken the opportunity to sort my list.

1. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

1. The Quantum Curators and the Faberge Egg by Eva St John
2. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
3. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

5. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe 6. Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker

1. In a Good Light by Clare Chambers

8. Ballad For Sophie by Filipe Mello and Juan Cavia

1. The Quantum Curator and the Enemy Within by Eva St John

10. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn 11. The Quantum Curators and the Missing Codex by Eva St John 12. Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham 13. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 14. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 15. Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane 16. The Quantum Curators and the Shattered Timeline by Eva St John 17. The Quantum Curators and the Great Deceiver by Eva St John 18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters 19. Who’s That Girl? by Mhairi McFarlane 20. You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane 21. Notes On An Execution by Danya Kukafka 22. My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing 23. Killers of the Flower Moon: Oil, Money, Murder and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann 24. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. By Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland 25. Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane 26. 29 Seconds by TM Logan 27. Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane 28. Sleepyhead by Mark Bellingham 29. Snowbound by Blake Crouch 30. Brilliance by Marcus Sakey 31. A Better World by Marcus Sakey 32. Written in Fire by Marcus Sakey 33. Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova 34. Just Kids by Patti Smith 35. How to be Champion: My Autobiography by Sarah Millican 36. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson 37. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 38. The Good Guy by Susan Beale 39. Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan 40. The Couple at No 9 by Claire Douglas 41. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

42. The Angel by Mark Dawson

Terrible, unrealistic thriller type book with safeguarding issues a-plenty.

43. Taft by Ann Patchett

I have read a few Ann Patchett books. I enjoy them while I’m reading them and think she writes well but I don’t find them memorable. At all. I think that’s partly because it feels like nothing much happens. That said I raced through this story of bar manager John Nickel, his staff and his family, but a day after finished it’s already fading from my memory.

You lot are fast! Thank you for the suggestions.

Eine she did a webchat, I think possibly on here and someone asked what she thought was a very considered question that should have got an interesting response. Instead she got a very sneery condescending snark answer and from that I've decided she must be very unpleasant in person. It was really uncalled for. I feel for the woman who asked it.

Oh Fortuna I'm worried now! I did feel it was one of those books that's stayed with me, and it was very original. I'd have liked to see Children of Paradise on there too. I read recently that the author worked in a cinema I used to frequent - the Cameo in Edinburgh - which made me feel slightly queasy though!

My book club have loved The Sentence and Burntcoat this year. Also think Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies would be a good book club one, but it could be too dark.

Thank you @Southeastdweller

I am up to 15, but hoping to only hit 26 anyway. I have jury service in a few weeks so hoping for some sitting about reading rather than getting picked.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
Before the Coffee gets Cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi trans by Geoffrey Trousselot
Remains of the Day, TeamIshiguro
Ask a Historian, Greg Jenner
The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Quite, Claudia Winkleman
Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Pear Field, Nana Ekvtimishvili, trans. by Elizabeth Heighway
My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier
Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages, Guy Deutscher
A Year of Living Simply, Kate Humble
The Tide of Life, Catherine Cookson
The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage, Halima Khatun
Bonjour Tristesse, Françoise Sagan

Currently reading The Reading List, Anna Karenina and The Roman Empire in 100 People (or words to that effect.

Totally agree Pepe! Beginning to wonder if we are the same person

I read The Cloisters earlier this year and my review started "You'd have thought I would have learned by now that when a book is presented as being Secret History-esque that it will fall far short of that promise."
Unfortunately I do not in fact ever learn.

Thank you Southeast for the new thread, and congratulations to Best on your retirement! Am fully jealous.

Thanks very much for the new thread, @Southeastdweller !

Here’s my updated list:

1. Exit - Belinda Bauer
2. Watching Neighbours twice a day… - Josh Widdicombe
3. The Bastard of Istanbul - Elif Shafak
4. The Plant Hunter - T L Mogford
5. House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family - Hadley Freeman
6. The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
7. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale
8. Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty
9. Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead
10. Angelmaker - Nick Harkaway
11. Hiding from the light - Barbara Erskine
12. A Curious Beginning - Deanna Raybourn
13. Snap - Belinda Bauer
14. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
15. Femina - Janina Ramirez
16. Insomnia - Sarah Pinborough
17. Les Années - Annie Ernaux (in French)
18. A Spoonful of Murder - Robin Stevens
19. A Perilous Undertaking - Deanna Raybourn
20. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie
21. The Holiday - T M Logan
22. Melmoth - Sarah Perry
23. Le Chapeau de Mitterand - Antoine Laurain (in French)
24. A Desperate Fortune - Susanna Kearsley
25. Wrong Place, Wrong Time - Gillian McAllister

That's quite nauseating about the cinema.

No pressure on Pod. I was in two minds. I have opinions about which way it was going, so no harm in trying.

How fab Best - enjoy!